The truly stunning Jurassic coastline

Distance: 95 miles  Difficulty: Days vary from Easy to Challenging

This walk takes in the entire Jurassic Coast, England’s first UNESCO designated natural World Heritage Site. It covers 95 miles of truly stunning coastline from East Devon to Dorset, with rocks recording 185 million years of the Earth's history. It begins in Exmouth with the oldest red Triassic rocks and ends with the youngest white chalk stacks at Old Harry Rocks. The impact of the sea is distinctly evident in the many amazing rock formations and cliff faces on this stretch of coastline.

Highlights

Every single day brings with it something special on this walk through time where 185 million years of the earth’s history is visible in the rock formations. The first leg of the route is typified by the red sandstone that’s 250 million years old from Exmouth to Sidmouth.

It continues through the Undercliffs around Axmouth, the closest thing to the Amazon in England. This is the start of the Jurassic period, which leads on to the world famous fossil sites at Lyme Regis and Charmouth where you might find your very own prehistoric souvenir.

There are some fantastic views as you walk along West Bay and on to the highest point on the South coast at Golden Cap. It leads on to Durdle Door with its infamous rock arch and the equally iconic Lulworth Cove.

The route then takes you along Chesil beach, Europe’s first barrier beach, and around the isle of Portland. The last leg of the route takes you past Durlston Head before reaching Old Harry Rocks, near Studland. This is quite literally a walk through time!

Suggested Itinerary

 

Relevant section guides

We have split the path into 52 sections, and for each one have produced a section guide. These pages do not aim to replace the guidebooks, but aim to give a flavour of what each section is like, and show you about the highlights and places of interest along the route, along with links to accommodation information and much more. The relevant section guides for this walk are:

Travel

The easiest way to reach Exmouth is by train. Main line trains go to Exeter, from where you change onto the Avocet line, which runs along the banks of the Exe estuary to Exmouth.

From Studland, you can either catch a bus into Bournemouth and then a train home from there, or a bus into Swanage and catch a steam train to Norden followed by a bus to the main line train station at Wareham.

If you want to shorten this walk the Jurassic Coast x53 bus service runs parallel to the coast calling at Exmouth, Sidmouth, Beer, Lyme Regis, Seaton, Charmouth, Bridport, Abbotsbury, Weymouth, Wool, Wareham and Poole.

For further details visit Traveline or phone 0870 6082608.

Short breaks

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